Woodford

[Lord Riot]

Good afternoon

I've long lurked on this forum and been fascinated by the amazing recollections of flying and suchlike.

I've never served and never will now, but have always been obsessed with military aircraft, especially British military. Having grown up under the flight path at the sadly now defunct airfield at Woodford, I was wondering if any of you have any stories you'd like to share about flying into this aerodrome?

I remember the happy days of Vulcans coming in, and so many Nimrods, and the highlight of any school year being airshow arrivals day on a Friday every June!

I also remember how thrilling it was to see a Victor coming in! And the occasional Canberra, Dominie, Hawk, Shackleton and the Buccaneers in the '80s, plus quite a lot of A&AEE stuff (Beagle Bassets every week, and once even a Britannia).

Does anyone recall flying into Woodford, any stories, anecdotes, etc?

[Planemike]

Welcome to the forum........

Reckon you might receive a better response on Aviation History and Nostalgia. Just a thought....

[ICM]

This is right out of History & Nostalgia. Way back, when there was a series of Exercises whereby an aircraft was taken somewhere to give an Army battalion training in loading etc, on the afternoon of 18 December 1967 I was airborne to position for one such the next day in an Argosy from Benson to Woodvale. Leaving airways, we heard that the airfield was going out in fog but, as there was a published DF approach, we pressed on. The letdown did not give a straight approach but was sone 30 degrees or so off, and had a Minimum Descent Height of something like 540 feet. As we progressed, vertical visibility was good but not so good looking ahead. Having descended to MDH, I set up a Doppler approach using one channel of the twin-track computer set to runway heading and we got a reasonable overhead starting point. So, now at 540 feet or whatever, with wheels down, we flew a downwind of sorts over quite a lot of local housing, and I had visions of occupants wondering what this loud whistling noise overhead was all about. Fortunately we managed to get ourselves into a position where, having spotted some runway lights, we could legitimately proceed to a landing. A pleasant evening with some Liverpool UAS staff/students ensued and the next day's business went off without fuss. I never went to Woodvale again.

[Sandy Parts]

Story has bee posted elsewhere but we popped in for the Woodford Air Day (96?) and parked the Nimrod up for a static. Enjoyed greatly the hospitality of the local area including the legendary Yellowgate training school aka Bradbury Hall (spelling may be wrong)! When it came to depart, we had an air-valve issue (much cheering down the back :) ). The chief spoke to one of the old boys helping see us off and he dug out an old WW2 era truck mounted air started that had been used in Vulcan days. After much churning of truck starter and clouds of black smoke, the jury-rigged air pipe managed to spin the might Spey enough to fire it up (much booing down the back). The BAe guys reckoned the truck had last been used in about '68!

[PPRuNeUser0139]

It took only 5 posts before Bredbury Hall (http://www.bredburyhall-hotel.com/en/the-club.html) was mentioned!
Tried it a couple of times.. it didn't mix well with the hours we were working.
I used to like The Thief's Neck (http://davenportarms.co.uk/) - just outside the main gates.
Playing snooker with the shop steward at the Lancaster Club was always a good investment if you wanted your aircraft on time for your sortie.

[JW411]

Ian, you are at Woodvale; the rest of us are at Woodford.

[olympus]

Bredbury Hall:D:D:D

Used to go there regularly in the sixties when I were just a lad (and previously when it was just Bredbury Tennis Club). Still friends with a couple of girls I met there back then...

[ICM]

Aaagh, Jock, you're right, as ever! Looks like I've never been to Woodford. Oh well.....

[JW411]

C'est la vie mon brave.

See you in October.

By the way, I spent a lot of my time at Woodford teaching simulator. They cleverly built the groundschool on the south side of the runway so that every visit involved a double crossing of the active. In many years I actually only stopped at a "Red" around half a dozen times. Usually it was a spamcan doing a touch and go or a go around. On one famous occasion I actually saw a Nimrod MRA4 actually flying!

Then there was the saga of the local farmer and the two oak trees. The trees were growing, like trees do, on finals to runway 25 and they were starting to intrude into the ILS approach path. The CAA were getting interested to the extent that they were talking about a displaced threshold and it was going to affect the testing of the MRA4. Instead of visiting the farmer with a couple of bottles of Scotch and a Harrod's hamper for Mum, some management idiot in BAe went in with all guns blazing which pissed the farmer off no end and the tree saga ended up in the local press. I suppose the trees are now doing well.

Finally, I was on the dog shift (0300 - 0600) in the simulator one night. I drove across the runway in the total darkness with my two Belgian students to be greeted and waved down by a "Security" Land Rover. I was told that I had been recorded with his radar gun crossing an active runway at 42 mph which was in excess of the speed limit of 30 mph. You really could not make it up if you tried!

[STATSMAN]

We still have the 1950's air starter in the Museum. We hope to restore it in the next year.

I was told that Bredbury Hall was why a number of marriages of Nimrod crews broke up, that was from a rolling stone that gathers no .......

Went to Bredders in the 60's and went to work conferences in the 90's

[olympus]

In many years I actually only stopped at a "Red" around half a dozen times.

In my years of going there (actually only after the Hatfield sim moved there) I was never stopped by the red light but then I was only ever an instructee not an instructor.

[Lord Riot]

A good start chaps, thanks for your responses. I know it's not a mil base, but we've had some cracking types visiting (I mean aircraft, not the women at Bredbury Hall!) .

Anyone remember flying a Vulcan, Nimrod, Victor, Herc, Basset, etc into Woodford, or displaying at the airshows?

I even saw a Phantom come in once, and not for the airshow - great views from Vernon school, about a mile as the jet flies from the piano keys.

[andytug]

I went to one of the last (may even have been the last) airshows at Woodford, sadly it rained with low cloud so many aircraft couldn't display. However the most memorable aircraft that day was the B1-B, which did a low display including a slow touch and go. Then having discovered that the next plane to display (Liberator I think) was thwarted by the weather he asked for and was given permission to fill in with another touch and go. Except this time instead of touching down he pretended to but at about 2 feet up hit all four afterburners and rapidly vanished ... It is still the loudest noise I have ever heard - or rather felt!

[ShotOne]

I can very much recommend the Avro museum which is located far-side of runway next to the flight simulators. Lots of Nimrod memorabilia inc. fwd fuselage, a whole Vulcan and Vulcan cockpit that you can go inside. If you go, the speed-check nonsense mentioned above is actually still going on. Offenders may receive a ticking-off from a moped-mounted security ninny.

[Sandy Parts]

cheers for the update STATSMAN - good to know the airstarter truck is still around! Only managed the Woodford airday the once but it was great to be able to show off the jet to those who'd helped in its story (and their families). While everyone likes the whizzy flying displays, I always felt we reached more 'public' with a good walk-though static. Shame that they are so few and far between these days and unless you get an invite to a 'friends and family' event, not likely to involve going on-board. (Of course, exceptions may be made in certain cases ;) )

[Pontius Navigator]

Sandy Parts, we had a walk through once, a visitor pinged a fire extinguisher. This required an engine run within the hour. Of course that was not possible in the middle of the static park. Our stay was extended by a day awaiting spares. :)

[canard68]

I remember attending the school that was .5 mile final to RW 25 in the 1960s . October 1960 a RAAF C130 arrived which was the first we had seen . Following years saw visits from several of those and USAF C124s, which I found out later carried equipment to Woomera.
Woodford was not a busy airfield but the movements were unusual or very loud, Vulcan departures stopped work at school for 30 secs as they thundered overhead.

[Lord Riot]

I remember attending the school that was .5 mile final to RW 25 in the 1960s . October 1960 a RAAF C130 arrived which was the first we had seen . Following years saw visits from several of those and USAF C124s, which I found out later carried equipment to Woomera.
Woodford was not a busy airfield but the movements were unusual or very loud, Vulcan departures stopped work at school for 30 secs as they thundered overhead.

Brilliant! That must have been Vernon school? I remember Vulcans and Nimrods, if they took off over the school it drowned out everything - fabulous!

A long time ago, a then neighbour told me that once something fell off a Vulcan in Poynton and someone drove out from Woodford to pick it up, it was an undercarriage door or similar so I was led to believe.

A lot of A&AEE stuff used to come in during the halcyon days of the 70s and 80s.

I remember two Hercules coming in together one day in the mid 80s too, that's was awesome!